Norwich Protection Dogs

While we can help with training:

Security dogs

Guard dogs

Personal Protection Dogs 

Watch dogs

Sports dogs

We imagine that you are reading this blog because (i) you have contacted us about training and we have asked you to read this article (to encourage you to think more about your request) or (ii) for some other reason, you are interested in Protection Training…

So let’s start at the beginning,  by asking yourself  “Why?..”

Is it because of the breed you have – then if so, then ask yourself why did you really buy this breed?

Have you watched far too much on YouTube – and do you believe everything you see on line or hear in local the Pub? Do you lack any common sense?

Is it your Ego?

Are you someone, who feels the need for a ‘status breed’ to improve your ‘hard’ or ‘tough’ image to intimidate others –  are you really this ‘sad?’ 

Do you really need a protection dog?

Do you live your life in fear? If so, do you really think a dog will change this – since realistically your dog can’t be with you 24 / 7?

Have you considered speaking to the Police about your worries or learning self-defence (we excellent contacts, if you’re interested). Have you thought about improving the security of your home or business (once again as a qualified security professional – I have excellent contacts in this field too)? 

Do you think that it is ‘cool’ to have a protection dog without having any real need for one? So arguably you want one that satisfies your larger than life ‘Ego’?  

We get lots of enquires from people who often say ‘I just fancied doing protection training’ – All in all, they’re generally pretty clueless having watched too much YouTube. In reality they would be far better off finding themselves gentler hobby, where they won’t potentially hurt anyone. I ask you, why on earth would any sane person want to teach their ‘pet’ to bite someone, just because they just fancy it?…

Dog are not infallible, and could easily lure you into a false sense of security. Be very careful of all the hype you may have heard or seen from a sales person, who may not be all they seem. Since honesty has never been a prime quality with dog dealers, and unfortunately many people become quite gullible, when listening to their spiel as someone who promotes, they have the ‘solution’ for all their woes.     

Is your argument that it’s a ‘Sport’ you’re interested in – when in all probability it’s your ‘Ego’?

While ‘Working Dog Sports’ such as Schutzhund / IPO / IGP that have been specifically designed to test whether pure bred pedigree working breeds, possess the correct character – proving that the dog carries the right genes to help justify that the animal is a suitable candidate for breeding. With the working qualification forming one third of the equation for breeding quality dogs: (1) Proven working ability (2) Breed confirmation (2) Evidence of excellent health.  

So it should come of no surprise, that both in the UK and overseas there are some quite stringent vetting processes to help weed out unsuitable people from partaking in Schutzhund / IPO / IGP training. Enthusiasts of the sport, care about its public image and do their damnedest to protect the sport from being infiltrated by irresponsible people with poorly trained dogs. 

Alas there are some other so-called ‘sports’ undertaken by people, who often have dubious reasons for doing so. Partaking in such ventures with ‘status’ breeds or types, that are so often, not pedigree or even registered with the Kennel Club. These activities arguably offer no more than a platform to show off that dogs their have been trained to ‘attack’ – so it’s questionable, whether such training should really be undertaken by civilians, who do it for ‘Ego’ rather than ‘need or to the benefit the breed’. 

Unfortunately, many of the dogs undertaking these pursuits are far from safe when out in public. Many have to be kept away from people just in case someone accidently touches or trips over one of their dogs, which could have grave consequences. Others have dogs have such poor temperaments, that they have to be muzzled or wear e-collars; just so their owners can attempt to try and  keep them under control to prevent ‘accidents’.  Many misguided individuals teach nervous aggressive dogs (dogs not naturally safe around people) to bite, as their ego driven owners, falsely perceive this to build up the dogs confidence. However logic dictates, that clearly neither the dog or its owner, should be doing any sort protection work as they are simply accidents waiting to happen.  

There are so many misnomers in relation to Protection Training, and it’s not necessarily a good thing for the dog or its owner. Especially if ‘things’ go wrong and  and the animal bites some innocent person. As you’ll be found to be negligent, and will quickly come to realise; that what you thought was ‘Big or Clever’ is no longer the case. As in all probability your dog will be put down, and you’ll face a wrath of criminal and civil proceedings – So it raises the questions – ‘was it worth it, and are you really prepared for this?’

There are plenty of canine activities out there for you and your dog to enjoy that don’t involve biting. So we would argue here, that in the main, protection work should be left to the professionals, and those seriously interested in dog sports to benefit their breed. 

A dog that has been trained to bite by definition is no longer a ‘pet’ in the true sense of the word – You’ll be forever living on your nerves, having to try and think about all the possibilities that might just go wrong – which we call the ‘what ifs?’ You should always remember, that the value of hindsight is such poor excuse or argument, when you are facing a Judge in the aftermath of a disastrous incident. These days it seems as though hardly a day goes by without someone being arrested for having a Dangerous out of control dog.   

The following are just a few of the things, that you really need to take time over and consider:…

Do you have a thorough understanding of the Law in relation to the Dangerous Dogs Act; Guard dogs Act; Criminal Law; Tort; Common Law and reasonable force? What’s your knowledge of insurance like – do you seriously think you will be insured if your dog bites someone? The chances are you’ll be found wanting – if your dog has been trained to bite or it’s a banned breed or type?

Do you have a dog that has been carefully bred, and is it the right breed for the work you are considering? Does it carry the correct genes that you would hope to find in a proper working dog? Does your dog have a bomb proof character? Is it physically and mentally sound, coming from health and character tested parents? Or is your dog a poorly bred cross breed or something that comes from a backyard breeder or puppy farm – bred by an individual who simply doesn’t have a clue as to what they’re breeding or for what purposes – except of course – PROFIT?

D you really know what you are talking about or looking for?

1.  Do you want a dog that looks the part?
2.  Do you want a dog that barks on command?
3.  Do you want your dog to potentially bite someone?

1 and 2 above are relatively safe to train, and the psychological deterrent offered is no different to a dog that has actually been trained to bite. However, once you think about the training for 3, then this really does open up a whole new can of worms for both YOU and YOUR DOG – ‘he or she is no longer a pet!

I have personally owned Working Breeds for well over 50 years, and none of my dogs have ever been called upon to bite someone for ‘real’ – so the question I would raise here – is why do you feel that you have the need for such an animal, and what makes your risks so different to mine?

However, unlike most people, throughout my professional career, I’ve been put in some quite tricky and potentially dangerous situations. I’ve experienced people that have pulled knives and other ‘potential’ weapons. To typify, one guy I arrested, later tried to kill an innocent soul in Cambridge by stabbing him seven times, and then fortuitously spent much of his life behind bars for attempted murder.

So while I‘ve never needed to call upon my dogs to bite someone, I reiterate here – ‘why do you?’ I openly accept, that over many years, one or two dogs that I have helped to train have actually bitten someone for ‘real’ – but these are by far in the minority, and they’ve been dogs used for security, not pets. So for most people, training dogs to reach the higher levels of protection work (3 above) is a waste of time, effort and money; but IT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY EXPOSE you to considerably greater risks, than an obedient pet.

Unlike the vast majority of trainers in the market place; I have actually researched the subject to quite some depth, and can vouch that despite what you may think, the vast majority of security dogs in the UK are not trained to bite. The reason being  simply that most professional security organisations are concerned about their reputational risks, and of course the financial risks; should a security officer’s dog bite an innocent person. And lets not forget, that there are some individuals out there; who just might see you (and your dog), as a ‘potential pay day’, if they can ‘bait or goad you’ into a situation, where they can allege that your dog caused them ‘harm or distress’. Offering them the opportunity to sneak off and seek the services of a Lawyer to seek financial compensation – After all, this route is far easier than having to work for a living – and the rewards are considerably greater, given the time and effort it consumes.

You may have chatted to a Security Officer to seek there advice. But please be sensible here, as there are countless people within the industry, who will try and beef up and exaggerate what their dogs may or may not have done – often telling ‘porkies’ to try and impress. Attempting to make their often mundane job sound more exciting. It should be clearly understood, that the overwhelming majority of security dogs, never see any action – the mere sight of a dog offers a psychological deterrent that is more than sufficient to deter, all but the most hardened criminals.

Thankfully, Police dogs rarely bite anyone – and their exposure to risk is far, far greater that you or I are ever likely to experience. And you must remember, that their dogs are directly employed to seek out and detain some of the most violent offenders in our society, as well as dealing with riots, hooligans, civil unrest etc. But remember – ‘You’re not… You are a civilian!‘

To give you just a flavour of some the discussions and interviews, that I’ve had over the years: One Police officer from a particular force much larger than Norfolk’s said that on average, his dog just had one bite per year (one of his dogs was later shot dead by an armed criminal), so in reality – it’s not very often. Another police officer from one of the UK’s very largest Cities with a serious reputation for crime and disorder, said that on average, the Police dogs within his force had between 6-8 bites a year, but his own dog approached 20. But then again, this Police Officer had very specialist skills, and was called upon to deal with the most dangerous of situations – not your average Police Dog Handler. But to give you some reality of the situation of having a trained ‘protection dog’, I can reveal that this Police officer’s own dog had to be destroyed following a very serious attack upon himself, by his own dog – Yes, his own dog! When he accidently fell on the dog. These are just some of the risks you need to really appreciate, when undertaking protection work, and unlike so many of irresponsible people that dabble with protection work – this officer was indeed a very experienced trainer and handler; not a civilian who thought it was ‘cool’ to ‘show off’ or had an ‘Ego’ bigger than he could manage. 

It is also worth mentioning here, that there’s an ever growing number of cases of where Police dogs haven bitten someone during the performance of their duties – only for the Police to be sued for using ‘excessive force’. So remember, the Police being a public service, have deep financial pockets to cover such eventualities – but do you?

You have probably seen on TV, YouTube and in the films amongst other places;  dogs being released off the lead; flying through the air; jumping through car windows, fire hoops and the alike; biting people just about anywhere. To some it might ‘look sexy’ and you might even fancy doing this with your own dog; but just step back and just think about this for a moment – where on earth, do you think that a civilian’s ‘pet’ will be required to perform such stunts? Well its not going to happen, is it? But if you are misguided by an idiot, and stupidly train for such things, then remember accidents can and do occur. Just when you least expect it. Dogs clearly don’t interpret situations in the same way, that a rational person or Criminal Law Judge would and the outcome for you, could be the risk of spending time at his Majesty’s Pleasure with a Criminal Record to boot – extinguishing any career prospects you may have had, followed by a Civil Litigation claim to add that little bit of ‘icing to the cake’.

So many people these days, love fame and worship the social media platforms as they show off their dog biting people on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube etc – so it’s not difficult, for the Police or insurers to research what you’ve been up to with your ‘pet’ in your spare time – should it bite someone….

Just to make you deliberate deeper about the risks. A few years ago, I was alone on a remote field – when my dog dislocated my hip during a training accident. I had to wait for what seemed like a life time for friends and the emergency services to turn up and ‘rescue me’. Thankfully, my dog being well very trained with a truly bomb proof character; posed no risk to those trying to help me. Similarly, I was exercising my dog, having him run beside my cycle, when I crashed! A very kind gent, quickly stopped his vehicle, got out and without a moments hesitation helped me to my feet (I was bleeding from a head injury). Once again, my dog offered no threat to this very compassionate guy. It is pertinent to remember that there are very, very few protection trained dogs that would be safe to other people in these situations. These are just a few of the real life risks that you need to seriously think about, when considering protection training. But it pains me to say, that very few of people ‘teaching’ this type training have little comprehension or ability to think ‘outside of the box’ about these risks. Sadly, many are not always the brightest or they don’t even care. I’ll leave you make up your own mind… but to reiterate, I know of many individuals who have taught protection work to dogs, that are ‘not safe’ around people, unless they are muzzled or wearing e-collars and to boot, some of the people teaching protection work have criminal records.    

As part of your research – and you really need to do this – if you are an intelligent and logical person – you should very seriously think about the training journey you are contemplating. So to this end, I would strongly recommend that you read our ‘Guide to buying a dog’ on this site. Then after reading this, please check out our blog ‘Top 10 Challenging breeds’… is the ‘breed’ you’re considering one of these? Do you have the knowledge, experience, strength of body and character to be able to train and mange one of these dogs properly? Or will you end up needing to rehome the animal, once you realise that you’re out of your depth? After reading these, then please read our ‘security dog training section’ followed by our blog ‘What sort of training should I do with my dog?’

I do hope these articles make you think , not once, but many times about the prospect of owning or training a Protection Dog. My ambition is that by reading these articles, it might just save you from making a very costly mistake. If however, after reading these articles, you still feel that you need and with good reason – a security, personal protection or ‘sports’ dog at either levels 1,2 or 3 then please let us know. But remember, once a dog has been trained, then there’s no going back, and this is one of the main reasons why so many military dogs are put down, once they’ve been retired. The risks are too high for most civilians.

Please beware that there are countless people out there and on the net, who are most certainly not qualified to give you the sound advice you need to ‘enable you’ to make an informed decision. They’re more interested in their own ‘Ego’ and the money they will take from you, as you hunger for knowledge or training. Once again, take one last look at Facebook, TikTok, YouTube etc – as you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out where these peoples priorities lay.

If you happen to visit a group training session, then just take a long good hard look at the people around you – are they balanced, why do you think they are there? – Be honest with yourself. As over the years, I’ve seen many people, whose backgrounds, intelligence and motivations are dubious to say the least, and that’s even before you start to look at the dogs they are training… 

Just a few last thoughts. One guy with a GSD x BSD who had previously done some protection training with his dog, wanted my help. So I questioned him, as to why he was doing this type of training? I was amazed, ‘and not in a good way’ at his response. He ignorantly thought, it would be good for his dog, as the dog was nervous of people, and then ‘almost beyond belief’….. he felt that protection training would make his dog more confident. I was completely dumbfounded as here was a guy, who I’m afraid to say, couldn’t have be very bright – he wanted to teach his nervous dog to believe that it could frighten, bite and attack the very thing it was nervous of!…. I quizzed the guy, about the risks of doing this type training with an unstable dog? His reply was something quite ‘outstanding’, as he said “Oh don’t worry, I keep him muzzled at all times for safety!”….

It beggars belief, what goes through some peoples minds….. and what’s even more concerning, is that he’s not the first person with a nervous dog that has enquired about doing protection training to make their nervous dog more confident. There have been countless Malinois, Cane Corso, German Shepherds owners asking for this training. It is all very, very  worrying. It’s a bit like giving an unbalanced, ‘wimpy kid’ a loaded weapon to get even with everybody, he or she doesn’t like – it is really quite frightening what goes through some peoples minds!..   

There have been guys, who have desperately wanted to buy a Malinois ‘to protect their children’. I can still clearly remember one saying “I want a mali, I want a mali, I want a mali”, he obviously didn’t know a thing about the breed or how to protect his kids; but he clearly had a ‘bee in his bonnet’ after overdosing on ‘John Wick Three’ or YouTube, and thought a dog would be the answer to his prayers. Rather than taking any personal responsibility for his children. 

No doubt, if allowed, these people would think nothing of buying their child a loaded firearm to take to school or the playground. What can you really say here, but are these people totally nuts or just morons? I leave you to make up your own mind. But where do these guys get off, buying pseudo weapons to ‘protect their children’. When as grown up parents, they should really be taking proper responsibility for their children – rather than being lazy, and offsetting the responsibility to the family’s so called ‘pet’. A ‘pet’ which in the wrong hands could seriously injure someone or worse (so often I feel, that it’s the father or mother’s Ego, that really wants the protection dog….). In my mind, and just to repeat they’re ‘accidents waiting to happen’….

News headlines today are constantly being filled with stories of children arming themselves with knives, guns, acid to make them look hard – if uneducated parents start ‘arming’ their children with ‘attack dogs’, then where’s this all going to end? Most children wouldn’t be able to hold a powerful dog, let along control it. If someone calls them names, then what are they going to do? Release their ‘attack trained dog’ to make amends – Who knows, for after all, they’re just kids….? 

It’s logical to conclude, that as more irresponsible people purchase or train so-called protection dogs or ‘status dogs’ in the UK, then the more unwarranted dog attacks will occur. Which will ultimately result in yet more breeds (or types) being added to the Banned Dogs Register. So tentatively, which breed do you think will be next? The Cane Corso, the Belgian Shepherd, Dutch Herder…..just watch this space…..Maybe the Government will be forced to bring in yet further legislation to try and curb attacks on the general public following the lead from other parts of the World, where it is already illegal for civilians to train protection dogs; whether for ‘sport’ or other reason. The arguments being centred around animal welfare (many trainers becoming over reliant of e-collars for ‘sports training’) and of course human welfare (dangers of dog attacks). I fear that it is only a matter of time, before this trend will spill over into the UK, if irresponsible people teach their dogs to bite for no other reason other than ‘fun’ or their ego – as unquestionably ‘accidents’ will occur.

I still remember one of my school friends then aged about 10 in the very early 1970s, whose football bounced over a wall into a yard. Without a moments thought, climbed over the wall to retrieve his ball and was attacked by a trained Dobermann guard dog. The results weren’t pretty. The Guard Dog Act 1975 was brough in to stop this type of thing happening, and yet I still get calls from people wanting so called ‘yard dogs’ – as sadly, so many owners of so-called ‘protection dogs’ or ‘Guard dogs’ are so often clueless! 

Final words, in recent times (before the ban), I’ve had countless XL Bully (inc. American Staffordshire, Pit bulls…) owners contacting me, as they wanted to teach their dogs to bite (which I refused) – and just look what happened here in the UK. Numerous dogs have attacked maimed and killed many innocent people;  hundreds of dogs have now been put down, and the ‘breed’ is now on the banned register. I fear that sadly, this is only the start of something much bigger….. and would urge you, not to become a statistic for having a Dangerous out of control dog!   

Check out the excellent thought provoking article in The Guardian, on the 4th February 2026 which featured our services. Also read our blog page ‘The Guardian – Protection Dogs as a follow up to the article.  The Guardian link:  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/04/demand-has-increased-without-a-doubt-the-shocking-rise-of-personal-protection-dogs